Matchbox Twenty lead guitarist Kyle Cook spent at least four years working on his debut solo album, “Wolves.”

In that time frame, Cook divorced his wife of 17 years. He quit Matchbox Twenty in 2016, only to return a year later for the band’s 2017 co-headlining tour with Counting Crows. And he spent time playing with Rivers and Rust, his duo with singer-songwriter Sheila Marshall.

In the midst of that, Cook wrote the songs that would end up on “Wolves,” drawing inspiration from the upheaval going on in his life.

“I didn’t realize that those songs that I was writing were almost open letters to (my ex-wife) in our relationship, and cathartic ways for me to deal with that,” Cook said recently while traveling with his trio in New Mexico. Cook’s first tour behind “Wolves” lands at the Domino Room on Wednesday. “And then when the divorce had begun and we had separated, I kind of — just because of personal reasons — I sidelined the album for a while because I had to look after my kids and the family and figure out what the next phase of life looked like.”

After Cook had a handle on that, he still had to contend with releasing the songs. He described the material on “Wolves” as “pretty heavy and kind of dark,” with songs such as “I Would’ve Left Me Too,” “Love Me Like it’s Over” and “Never Goodbye” tackling his broken relationships head-on.

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put that out into the world,” Cook said. “It’s not the kind of album that’s like, hey, everybody, let’s get up! … I was hibernating on that for a minute, but then, I decided as cathartic as it was, that was a big part of my life and all this material was already written. I was like, the hell with it. I’m gonna put this out there; this is gonna be my first solo effort, and maybe some people will listen to it and they’ll gain some comfort from it.”

Cook said fans have reached out to him about two songs in particular: current single “Ghost Towns,” an examination of how his marriage “dried up emotionally”; and “Waiting on a Silver Lining,” which true to its title deals with turning the page on a new chapter in life. The latter song also kicks off the “Silver Lining” suite, which makes up the album’s last four tracks (the songs run together a la the back half of The Beatles’ “Abbey Road”).

Musically, the album expands on the radio-friendly, pop-rock sound of Matchbox Twenty, best known for hits such as “Push,” “3 A.M.” and “Bent.” Lead-off track “Wishing Well,” co-produced by former Cage the Elephant guitarist Lincoln Parish, rocks harder than anything from Cook’s main band, while elsewhere, the multi-instrumentalist’s classical training pops up on the orchestral touches of the “Silver Lining” suite.

“(Parish) was pushing me into some harder, some more aggressive guitar tones,” Cook said. “So I think he was a significant influence throughout the course of that album. (I was listening to) a lot of British rock and a lot of classic rock.”

Cook sang lead on past Matchbox Twenty songs, including a duet with lead singer Rob Thomas on the song “Hang” from the band’s 1996 breakthrough album, “Yourself or Someone Like You.” He relishes the challenge of fronting his own trio on the road, he said.

“When it’s a new project entirely and you want people to view you in a different light, you have to earn it just like everybody has to,” Cook said. “So yeah, there’s that pressure. There’s nights where it’s really light and then there’s nights where it’s great, and there’s a good base of people that are really interested to come out and see what this record’s all about (and) what I’m all about as a solo performer.”

Cook’s tour will last through early May. Thomas will drop his fourth solo album, “Chip Tooth Smile,” later this month and embark on a tour this summer. After that, fans can expect more from Matchbox Twenty, with either new music or a tour (or both) coming in 2020, Cook said.

When he left the band in 2016, Cook cited communication issues and disagreements about touring and other band business in an Instagram post. Many of these disagreements were exacerbated by Cook’s divorce, he said.

“But to (the band’s) credit, man, I think they saw through that,” Cook said. “Paul (Doucette, Matchbox Twenty drummer and rhythm guitarist) reached out to me and really just tried to talk me down off a ledge and remind me what kind of greatness we had in the group. And to their credit again, they could have continued on and found a replacement member or whatever that they wanted to do, which I thought they probably would. But they were very cool about it. They were like, ‘Man, let’s talk about this.’”